Lou Walters

Barbara Walters
Walters in New York City, June 2011
Born	Barbara Jill Walters (1929-09-25) September 25, 1929 (age 88) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1952–present
Notable credit(s)	Today co-anchor (1962–76) ABC Evening News co-anchor (1976–78) 20/20 co-anchor (1979–2004) The View creator/co-host (1997–2014) executive producer (1997–present)
Salary	$12 million (2007)
Spouse(s)	Robert Henry Katz (m. 1955; annulled 1957) Lee Guber (m. 1963; div. 1976) Merv Adelson (m. 1981; div. 1984); (m. 1986; div. 1992)
Children	1

Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. Walters is known for having hosted a variety of television programs, including Today, The View, 20/20, and the ABC Evening News. Since retirement as a full-time host and contributor, she has continued to occasionally report for ABC News.

Walters first became known as a television personality in the early 1960s, when she was a writer and segment producer of "women's interest stories" on the NBC News morning program The Today Show, where she began work with host Hugh Downs. As a result of her outstanding interviewing ability and her popularity with viewers, she received more airtime on the program. Even though her production duties made her a significant contributor to the program, she had no input in choosing a successor for Downs when he left in 1971, and Frank McGee was hired. In 1974, at the time of McGee's death, Walters became co-host of the program, the first woman to hold such a title on an American news program.

In 1976, continuing as a pioneer for women in broadcasting, she became the first female co-anchor of a network evening news, working with Harry Reasoner on the ABC News flagship program, the ABC Evening News, earning an unprecedented US$1 million per year.

From 1979 to 2004, she worked as co-host and a producer for the ABC newsmagazine 20/20.

In 1997, Walters created and debuted as a co-host on The View, a daytime talk show with an all-female panel. She retired as a co-host of The View in 2014 after 16 seasons, but still serves as its executive producer.

Since her retirement from The View, she has hosted a number of special reports for 20/20 and ABC News, as well as a documentary series for Investigation Discovery. Additionally, Walters continued to host her annual 10 Most Fascinating People special on ABC.